Friday, May 6, 2011

Osama Bin Laden is no more. The official announcement came on May 1st, 2011 when President Obama revealed to the world that the US had captured and killed the leader of Al-Qaeda via a covert operation conducted by the Navy SEALs and the CIA.

However, as a former Muslim myself, who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia in the same town where Bin Laden lived, who was an acquaintance and a close friend with some of Bin Laden’s family and cousins, who once was radical and at some point, almost joined in with Bin Laden’s effort to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, I asked myself this very important question: DID WE WIN THE WAR ON TERROR?

Unfortunately, the answer would be a resounding NO, simply because the issue of terror has nothing to do with an individual such as Bin Laden. It has to do with a much deeper issue that must be faced head-on. This issue is the SOURCE of the terror activities that inspired Bin Laden to form Al Qaeda in 1990 to fight whom he believed to be; the enemies of God, including innocent people and children.

Hasan al-Banna (1906 – 1949)

Was Bin Laden alone in doing so, or was he inspired by others before him who followed the same calling and carried the banner of Holy War against the infidels? Take for example Hasan al-Banna who founded the Muslim Brotherhood movement in 1928 for the sole purpose of rejecting Western values, to establish a Sharia Law or Islamic state. Al-Banna was inspired by the same SOURCE.

How about HAMAS which was founded in 1988 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood by Ahmad Ibrahim, whose goal is to destroy the enemies of God and their agents. He too was inspired by the same SOURCE. However, if we want to know the SOURCE, we must evaluate what these movements stand for and theanswer will be revealed from the moment we take a closer look.

Members of HAMAS

First, the name these movements chose; Al Qaeda “The Foundation”; Muslim Brotherhood; or HAMAS “The Islamic Resistance Movement,” reveal to us a religion: ISLAM. All of these names incorporated it directly or indirectly.

Second, all of these movements, and others like them, share the same values which include: complete rejection of the West, communism, and freedom; establishment of a pan-Islamic state founded on the basis of Sharia Law, an ideal state to be ruled by a Caliph, a title bestowed upon the successor s of the prophet of Islam Muhammad from the very beginning of Islam almost 1,400 years ago.

Third, all of these movements inspire followers at all social levels by declaring to them that Muslims are oppressed by the West who occupy Islamic nations and shed the blood of Muslims whether it was the crusaders’ in 1192 A.D. or as recent as the Afghanistan and Iraq wars since 2001, or even for the mere existence of American forces in Saudi Arabia. For instance, Osama Bin Laden in a fatwa issued in 1996 entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,” stated the following:

“. . . It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq.”

Hasan al-Banna once said:

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

Consider what Ahmad Ibrahim said:

"Six million descendants of monkeys [i.e., Jews] now rule in all the nations of the world, but their day, too, will come. Allah! Kill them all, do not leave even one!"

By now we can see a pattern emerging, which instills hatred towards the West and its so-called Zionist agents, and to liberate Muslims from their oppression. In other words, to make Islam supreme. But where did all of these terror leaders get these ideas or inspirations from? They got them from the SOURCE, which is the Quran. TheQuran is the foundation for all terror and radical groups and their activities.

So what does the Quran teaches regarding some of these terror group’s agenda? The following verses from the Quran should speak for themselves:

“You are the best of the nations raised up for -the benefit of- men; you enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in Allah” Q 3:110

“O you who believe! be careful of -your duty to- Allah with the proper care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslim” Q 3:102

“I desire nothing but reform so far as I am able, and with non but Allah is the direction of my affair to the right and successful path; on him do I rely and to him do I turn” Q 11:88

“. . . and whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are the unbelievers” Q 5:44

“. . . And a soul will not die but with the permission of Allah, the term is fixed” Q 3:145

“. . . and -so far- those who are slain in the way of Allah, He will by no means allow their deeds to perish. He will guide them and improve their condition and cause them to enter the garden -paradise- which He has made known to them” Q 47:4-6

“"so when you meat in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks..." Q 47:19

“. . . slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush. . .” Q 9:5

“Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people. “ Q 9:14

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. “ Q 9:29

“He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth [Islam], that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse.” Q 9:33

“. . . strive hard against the unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell,- an evil refuge indeed.” Q 9:73

With commands such as these, emanating from the Muslims’ most Holy book, theQuran, which is believed as the absolute word of Allah, DID WE REALLY WIN THE WAR ON TERROR by killing Bin Laden?

It may sound as if I am a pessimist. However, the point I am trying to raise here and bring to light, is that our issue is not with individuals such as Bin Laden. Our war is against an ideology found in a so-called divine book which inspires young men and women to kill themselves and others for one cause: to make Islam supreme. This is the same ideology that kept Islam surviving for 1,400 years via the use of violence against anyone who dares to stand against it.

The only way we can face this issue and deal with it, is by understanding the fuel behind it. This fuel can be found in the pages of the Quran. In our recent book “TheQuran Dilemma” we as former Muslims analyze this ideology in depth for the purpose of helping others finally grasp the deeper problem of Radical Islam and Terrorism. Unless we are willing to become familiar with it and deal with it in a straight forward approach, another Osama will rise in the scene of Holy Jihad faster than we can react.